NYR DAILY

Jorge Luis Borges: History would be the art of divining the past, no?
Osvaldo Ferrari: Yes, the art of the historian.
Borges: Yes, once something has happened, one demonstrates that it happened inevitably. But it would be more interesting to apply that to the future.
Ferrari: That’s more difficult than to predict the past—it’s harder to
be a prophet than a historian.
Borges: Well, that’s how literary histories are written.

Osvaldo Ferrari: Throughout your writing, you have referred to what’s divine, including the supernatural. That is, you seem to admit that transcendence exists but you don’t call it God.
Jorge Luis Borges: I do think that it’s safer not to call it God. On the other hand, if we employ other words, perhaps less precise or vivid ones, then we could approach the truth, if an approach to truth is possible. Or it could be something that we ignore.